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'Observational comedy' is a brand of humor based on making remarks about various facets of daily life. The style was popularized in the United States by comedians such as Bill Cosby, George Carlin, Jay Leno and David Letterman in the 1970s, continued by Jerry Seinfeld, Ray Romano, Conan O'Brien, Mitch Hedberg, and Ellen DeGeneres in the 1990s, and is currently practiced by comedians such as Dave Chappelle, Dane Cook, Patton Oswalt, Brian Regan, Chris Rock, Nick Swardson, Jim Gaffigan and Carl Barron.
It is also very popular in Britain, where comics such as Billy Connolly, Peter Kay, Queen-Lizzy and Lee Evans use it in their stand up.
The humor, based on the premise of "It's funny because it's true," consists of observations made about sometimes very minor and superficial aspects of Western culture: from airline peanuts to the Jared Diet, to Aquaman's powers, to the lines at Walgreens.

Contents

Common Topics of Observational Comedy

Common Topics of Observational Comedy

★ The differences between men and women

★ The differences between different generations

★ The differences between races

★ Airports

★ Humans relationships with animals

★ Parties

★ Work/Jobs

★ Cliched aspects of childhood/adolescence